For the uninitiated, Phantasy Star Online is a game that originally came out for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. It's a Hack and Slash (action) RPG with a real time combat system using a timing scheme to execute simple combos. Much like the other game of the genre that came out in this period (Diablo II and its expansion), long-term gameplay is loot-driven and the zone is semi-randomized (different spawning locations, different portal locations). The art that drives this game is a very unique futuristic look that has always held a place in my heart.
There 12 classes split into 3 groups - Hunters, Rangers, and Forces. Hunters have powerful melee, Rangers have long range, and Forces wield useful and devastating techniques. Each class is a different combination of gender, race, and group. There are 3 different races: Newmans, which are the most adept at using techniques. Humans, which have a good balance of physical power and technique usage. Casts, which are androids that lack the ability to use techniques but have the highest damage potential and can employ traps to provide support and control.
So does anyone still play this game of games? I personally played through the original PSO v.1 with those hilarious hacks on the Dreamcast, and again in the free US beta for PSOBB. It was my first of many MMO addictions and since I'm freaking so sick of WoW and Diablo II gets boring, I was hoping to dredge up some nostalgia and bring some attention to the amazing community that keeps the spirit of these games alive.
http://www.pso-world.com/ - Number one Phantasy Star Community, tons of great guides from every game published since the Dreamcast.
http://www.schtserv.com/ - Biggest remaining active PSO community. Offers a private server that holds true to the spirit of the original game. It's free, and the gameplay is just as addicting as you remembered it!
I never played it, but I have heard horror stories of how addictive this game was. Like to the point of friends begging other friends to let them come over and play it.
On June 11 2011 03:50 FeUerFlieGe wrote: I never played it, but I have heard horror stories of how addictive this game was. Like to the point of friends begging other friends to let them come over and play it.
The best RPG before this game was Everquest or D2 (pre-xp). Needless to say, Humans (especially console gamers) as a whole were not prepared for the level of addiction this game provides.
I strongly suggest you give this game a try. Who knows, you might fall in love =)
got ep 1&2 on gamecube. I really played a lot, though it was phantasy star offline to me . i never got to play online lol. it had some kind of special flair, really cool. i would even consider playing a new part of the series online, even though i actually told myself im done for good with those lowskill-massgrinding games.
On June 11 2011 06:10 whoso wrote: got ep 1&2 on gamecube. I really played a lot, though it was phantasy star offline to me . i never got to play online lol. it had some kind of special flair, really cool. i would even consider playing a new part of the series online, even though i actually told myself im done for good with those lowskill-massgrinding games.
I get all the highskill-nogrinding I could ever need with SC2 =P
Ep2 and 4 can get pretty challenging at higher difficulties if you're undergeared/underleveled.
me and my friends a few years ago used to play this all the time.
We would have lan parties. 4 tv's, 4 gamecubes, 4 adapters playing online ^^ good times.
We got pretty damn good at it, I think i had a level 130 or something. good times, i miss this game a lot, hope they come out with a remake or something.
On June 11 2011 03:50 FeUerFlieGe wrote: I never played it, but I have heard horror stories of how addictive this game was. Like to the point of friends begging other friends to let them come over and play it.
I used to be one of those moochers ^_^ We never actually played online, but we'd play co-op together split screen. Have a sleepover and stay up all night playing the game...Those were the days :0
A friend and I played in 12 hour shifts through spring break. Probably put a thousand hours into it. Didn't care for it too much once it they added levels 101-200, liked it more when we could hack items and it'd make almost any weapon viable in the end game. Lots of memories. Using melee combos to get through locked doors, crashing the blocks with the "place a town portal anywhere" cheat, subsequently getting banned for crashing blocks, dealing with the mass influx of japanese on american servers on the weekends, hogging EXP in Very Hard Ruins Endless Nightmare missions. Favorite though was beating Dark Falz on Very Hard with my fists because my team near instantly died on the spike spinner. I started dancing over their corpses until they raged, but I gave them gear afterwords so it didn't happen again.
I remember playing on this server a few years back with two of my friends. It was so much fun, I'd love to go back and I'm not gonna lie, I am tempted. Haha
Just trying to juggle so many things at once right now, it might be problematic. @.@
On June 11 2011 08:13 laharl23 wrote: me and my friends a few years ago used to play this all the time.
We would have lan parties. 4 tv's, 4 gamecubes, 4 adapters playing online ^^ good times.
We got pretty damn good at it, I think i had a level 130 or something. good times, i miss this game a lot, hope they come out with a remake or something.
pso universe or whatever was a pretty big joke
Well, they have been working on Phantasy Star Online 2 for a while.
They've been more or less trying to get away from the whole PSU feel by bringing back what was great about PSO and trying not to deviate from it too much (Mind you, it's still a different game from PSO, so there is jumping for example, among other new features.)
Here's a video from the first showcase, skip to about 1:20 for the gameplay.
I played PSO on the Dreamcast forever... then played v2 on the Gamecube for another forever. The game was so simple, should've been boring but it was fun. Had so much grinding dungeon after dungeon with friends.
On June 11 2011 08:50 Viledica wrote: I remember playing on this server a few years back with two of my friends. It was so much fun, I'd love to go back and I'm not gonna lie, I am tempted. Haha
Just trying to juggle so many things at once right now, it might be problematic. @.@
On June 11 2011 08:13 laharl23 wrote: me and my friends a few years ago used to play this all the time.
We would have lan parties. 4 tv's, 4 gamecubes, 4 adapters playing online ^^ good times.
We got pretty damn good at it, I think i had a level 130 or something. good times, i miss this game a lot, hope they come out with a remake or something.
pso universe or whatever was a pretty big joke
Well, they have been working on Phantasy Star Online 2 for a while.
They've been more or less trying to get away from the whole PSU feel by bringing back what was great about PSO and trying not to deviate from it too much (Mind you, it's still a different game from PSO, so there is jumping for example, among other new features.)
Omg i love Phantasy Star, I never played the dreamcast version, but i was severely hooked to Episode 1 & 2 on the original Xbox. I spent sooo much time on that game (numerous characters over 130), and looking back that was basically the only MMO that i truly enjoyed every moment i was playing. I bought PSO for 360 but never really got into it because the game felt way to simple compared to EP1&2 so i dropped it regrettably knowing it should have been better.
I'll definitely be checking out the 2nd one, whether its bad or good
I remember playing on this server a few years back with two of my friends. It was so much fun, I'd love to go back and I'm not gonna lie, I am tempted. Haha
Just trying to juggle so many things at once right now, it might be problematic. @.@
On June 11 2011 08:13 laharl23 wrote: me and my friends a few years ago used to play this all the time.
We would have lan parties. 4 tv's, 4 gamecubes, 4 adapters playing online ^^ good times.
We got pretty damn good at it, I think i had a level 130 or something. good times, i miss this game a lot, hope they come out with a remake or something.
pso universe or whatever was a pretty big joke
Well, they have been working on Phantasy Star Online 2 for a while.
They've been more or less trying to get away from the whole PSU feel by bringing back what was great about PSO and trying not to deviate from it too much (Mind you, it's still a different game from PSO, so there is jumping for example, among other new features.)
damn that trailer looks pretty sweet, any idea of when the game will be released?
Probably will be out in japan first and won't come here for awhile : (
Well, the official site is in Japanese, and from what I've read on Phantasy Star community forums, they're going to be holding a closed beta and they have said that they will be inviting out of their current subscribers and people who have purchased their recent PSP Phantasy Star releases and registered them.
Whether this only applies for Japan or not, I'm not sure, and whether they will be opening a beta test registration or holding an open beta test is also unknown at this point.
What I do know is that it's slated to release this year.
I played the first dreamcast version. It was a very good game, funny, addictive... good memories... but unfortunately also bad memories. Game had some huge flaws...
- game was filled with cheaters. They were using Game Genies& Action Replays to create items and to use bugged items in order to kill people (pvp was not present in the very first PSO game). Cheaters could also burn your console with a special hack
- there was no trading system at all. You had to drop item on the ground and the other guy had to do the same. All the items had the same skin, so you could easily be scammed. You could not trade anything with unknown people.
- one weapon was broken as hell: it was called "Spread Needles". It was a laser crossbow dealing huge damage to up to five enemies while almost all weapons have no AOE attack and did less damage.
- Force classes (=magic casters) were underpowered. They could not use lot of weapons/armors, their spells were weak and fighting classes could also use the same spells; only cyborgs (a special race) could not use spells.
Regardless, it was a good game. Had a lot of fun with it on my 33,6k dial-up. Gameplay (with combos) was funny, world was full of coherence and bosses were charismatic (the first dragon, Dark Falz...)
Oh wow how nostalgic. I used to play on Dreamcast all the time. This was a very fun game and I have a lot of fond memories of playing it online. Played the cyborg guys.
I have a feeling if I played it today though i'd hate it.
On June 11 2011 17:25 yanot wrote: I played the first dreamcast version. It was a very good game, funny, addictive... good memories... but unfortunately also bad memories. Game had some huge flaws...
- game was filled with cheaters. They were using Game Genies& Action Replays to create items and to use bugged items in order to kill people (pvp was not present in the very first PSO game). Cheaters could also burn your console with a special hack
- there was no trading system at all. You had to drop item on the ground and the other guy had to do the same. All the items had the same skin, so you could easily be scammed. You could not trade anything with unknown people.
- one weapon was broken as hell: it was called "Spread Needles". It was a laser crossbow dealing huge damage to up to five enemies while almost all weapons have no AOE attack and did less damage.
- Force classes (=magic casters) were underpowered. They could not use lot of weapons/armors, their spells were weak and fighting classes could also use the same spells; only cyborgs (a special race) could not use spells.
Regardless, it was a good game. Had a lot of fun with it on my 33,6k dial-up. Gameplay (with combos) was funny, world was full of coherence and bosses were charismatic (the first dragon, Dark Falz...)
I agree with a few things but that Spread Needles was the broken weapon. Not sure if it was a created weapon with cheats or not but there was a double saber weapon which attacked like normal double saber but also shot AE lasers like spread needles. Also it had ridiculous damage. I also disagree about Force classes. There were insane numbers of speedruns and after they figured out what combo of mag's and items they needed force classes were BY FAR the fastest class to level and necessery for Ultimate ep.4 cause they were the only ones who could learn lvl 25 or 30 spells not completely sure.
On June 11 2011 23:33 Dizmaul wrote: I had no idea i could play PSO again. I almost forgot to go to bed last night. Cant believe how much of this game i remember i was trippin out hah.
I also disagree about Force classes. There were insane numbers of speedruns and after they figured out what combo of mag's and items they needed force classes were BY FAR the fastest class to level and necessery for Ultimate ep.4 cause they were the only ones who could learn lvl 25 or 30 spells not completely sure.
Could you elaborate plz? I'm playing it again thx to all of u and I think I will make a caster. I just played the ep 1 and i'm now happy to play again to see ep 2 and stuff.
I also disagree about Force classes. There were insane numbers of speedruns and after they figured out what combo of mag's and items they needed force classes were BY FAR the fastest class to level and necessery for Ultimate ep.4 cause they were the only ones who could learn lvl 25 or 30 spells not completely sure.
Could you elaborate plz? I'm playing it again thx to all of u and I think I will make a caster. I just played the ep 1 and i'm now happy to play again to see ep 2 and stuff.
Which version are you playing? DC is very different from GC/Xbox/BB. I know nothing about the Dreamcast versions but I'm fairly knowledgeable about GC/BB.
On June 13 2011 00:59 yanot wrote: thx man, I'm playing Blue Burst on PC atm, in the private server linked @ OP.
In Normal through Very Hard you'll deal really nice damage; in Ultimate multiplayer mode you won't deal terribly much damage because enemy resists are pretty high, but level 30 shifta/deband/jellen/zalure (and Resta obviously) are ridiculously powerful and spells still have some utility in staggering enemies (and Rabarta freezing some right as they spawn).
On June 13 2011 01:07 Dizmaul wrote: hey guys is there a website or page that outlines what levels you should be for what quests ect??
example do I or should I be a certain level before trying ep 2 and so forth?
It doesn't matter much. Equips matter a fair bit, but if you have a gun and patience you can clear basically anything in ep1/ep2 by abusing doors (droids can also abuse confuse/freeze traps and then telepipe back to the hospital to refill). If you have Resta and fluids you have effectively infinite HP unless you get one-hit-killed as well.
You'll need certain HP totals for Dark Falz and Ep4's bosses (and realistically for Olga Flow, though it's technically possible to dodge everything he does on Normal through Very Hard) but those probably won't be a big deal unless you're a Force (and you mostly circumvent needing to worry about them anyway because you don't ever really need to fight any specific bosses, since you only unlock higher difficulties by leveling up enough).
If you're starting a new character then clearing the areas of either ep1 or ep2 in order will generally keep you at a reasonable level (ep2 is a bit harder but it's perfectly doable to take a fresh level 1 character and clear Temple). But pretty much you can just choose whatever quests you want to do and play those.
I just woke up from a 24 session where I did both ep 1 and 2 in a day. Here's how I pulled it off-
Ep. 1: Complete a solo run of each of the areas before doing all government quests in that area. i.e do a One Person mode Forest Run, then do all the Episode 1 quests for the forest. Repeat for the next 3 areas and you should finish in the mid-20's or almost 30. Note that in order to the government quests (the actual storyline to each zone), you need to be in Normal mode when you create the party.
Ep. 2: You could probably do after clearing the mines, but the first two areas are easier than ruins. However, the monsters and layout are designed to be challenging, so even if you kill quickly you'll still be taking a lot of damage and possibly dying. By the time you get to Central Control Area, you'll have basically caught up with yourself. The minibosses in this area are fucking absurdly difficult if you don't bother to look up strats or are a hunter, so I suggest you have a damn good sidearm (a varista for me sufficed).
If you completed all of episode 1 using the above method, just do all the government quests in a row. By the end you should be mid-30's. Only things that one-shotted me where mericarol's and their overpowered confuse + AoE spore explosion and Delbiters in the Seabed. however, Olga Flow will still one-shot you with some of his second-phase attacks, so learn to dodge.
Ep. 4: Same like Ep. 2, synergy between monsters improved, but everything dies easier than it did previously. Got half through this before passing out, was a cakewalk.
EDIT: Thinking about making a TeamLiquid team. Anyone interested?
Hey all sorry about bumping an old thread but ive recently started playing this again used to play on GC (ahhh the nostalgia)
and now im all alone playing so i was wondering if any TL'ers wanna start playing again im only lvl 13 so catching up wont be hard at all and would be a fun time to have 4 of us running through the game :D we could even get a team going once we get a decent level and player base (4 or so players should be good hah)
so if your interested hit me up: Skype name: zickoray (should come up as mack) or PM me :D
EPT
